resurrected siblings
by minachandler
Summary: DIGGLE: Do you remember the time I told you we had more in common than you might think?


(The elevator of the BUNKER reaches the right floor, with LAUREL inside. She's clad in her Black Canary gear, twirling her bo-staff in her hand absent-mindedly, the other hand holding her mask, and when the doors open she's greeted with the sound of punches on a sparring dummy. She walks in and finds DIGGLE, bare chest shiny with sweat, punching the dummy.)

 **LAUREL:** Hey, John.

 **DIGGLE** (continuing to punch): Hi.

 **LAUREL:** What are you doing down here so late?

 **DIGGLE** (smiling slightly, and pausing for a moment): I could ask the same thing of you.

(LAUREL puts down her mask on the table and lays her bo-staff next to it, then takes her jacket off.)

 **LAUREL** (sighing): I was on patrol. Just needed to clear my head, but I didn't want to go home.

 **DIGGLE:** I know the feeling.

 **LAUREL:** You want to talk about it?

(She picks up her bo-staff and separates it in two, holding them out, ready. DIGGLE grabs the nearest weapon - an escrima stick - and blocks her attack just in time. They spar, and LAUREL is silent, letting DIGGLE take his time and decide if he wants to speak.)

 **DIGGLE:** Do you remember the time I told you we had more in common than you might think?

 **LAUREL:** You mean when Ollie first came back?

 **DIGGLE:** Yeah, when I first told you about HIVE.

 **LAUREL** (chuckling): Yeah. Right after that you told me you had a thing with your brother's wife when you thought he was dead.

(This time though she ends up on the floor, and DIGGLE extends his hand to her and helps her to her feet.)

 **DIGGLE:** Carly, her name is.

 **LAUREL:** What about her?

 **DIGGLE:** I… can I ask you something?

 **LAUREL:** Sure. Let's go again.

(She puts the bo-staff back together. They begin to spar once more, and she manages to get him on the leg this time, so he loses his balance for a moment.)

 **DIGGLE:** Did you ever tell Sara about you and Nyssa?

 **LAUREL** (nodding): Sort of. I was going to tell her… but it turned out she had already figured it out for herself.

 **DIGGLE:** What did she say?

 **LAUREL:** She was… surprisingly okay about it. She forgave me. In a heartbeat. And I'm sure that's not what I deserved, but -

 **DIGGLE:** She can't have forgiven you when you didn't do anything wrong.

 **LAUREL:** Are you trying to convince me or yourself, John?

(This time she knocks him to the floor with a thump, and she holds out her hand, helping him up. He straightens, panting, leaning against the sparring dummy and taking a sip of water, before pulling on his shirt again, putting a towel around his neck.)

 **DIGGLE:** I… don't know. Andy asked me about her today. And I don't know if it was just the look on my face that gave it away, or what - but he just knew, somehow. Or I felt he did. So I told him.

 **LAUREL:** What did he say?

 **DIGGLE:** We were sitting eating dinner and he just… got up and left. Said he needed some air.

 **LAUREL** (putting her hand on his arm): Hey. It's okay. He probably just needed some time to, uh -

 **DIGGLE:** Process the fact that his brother got with his wife while he was dead for eight years?

 **LAUREL:** John -

 **DIGGLE:** Carly and I - we were serious, Laurel. We were a family. I was even thinking of proposing to her a few in.

 **LAUREL:** You never talk about her.

 **DIGGLE** (bitterly): That's because things ended badly. And to make things worse - I was the one who ended it badly.

 **LAUREL:** Why?

 **DIGGLE:** We just… didn't work anymore. I never told her about what I did with Oliver. Not really. And I couldn't bring myself to love her and hate my brother's killer at the same time. It just didn't work.

 **LAUREL:** I'm sorry, John.

 **DIGGLE:** It's okay. Just - today has dredged up all these memories. The ones I thought I had put to bed. And I just hope my brother can get past this.

 **LAUREL:** I hope so too. For both your sakes.

 **DIGGLE:** So what's keeping you up at night?

 **LAUREL** (grimacing): Nyssa.

 **DIGGLE** (deadpanning): I would have thought that would be a good thing.

 **LAUREL** (laughs faintly): Not for Thea. But - that's not what I meant.

 **DIGGLE:** What do you mean?

 **LAUREL:** I mean she left. She's en route to somewhere sunny right now. I said goodbye to her a couple hours ago.

 **DIGGLE:** Did she want to leave?

 **LAUREL** (shaking her head): No, I told her to. I… ended things.

 **DIGGLE:** Why?

 **LAUREL:** Because Nyssa deserves to - be free for once. Free of the League, and as far away from Star City as possible. She deserves to see the world and be _happy._

 **DIGGLE:** Last time I checked, she was happy. With you.

 **LAUREL:** I know. And I was too. I mean - I know you never liked her, John -

 **DIGGLE:** I'm not exactly in her fan club after what she did with Thea.

 **LAUREL:** For what it's worth… it wasn't exactly easy for me to forgive her either. But with me it's different. I…

 **DIGGLE:** Love her?

 **LAUREL:** I do, yeah. Which is why I had to let her go.

 **DIGGLE:** That probably made as much sense to her as it does to me.

 **LAUREL:** I just think - things aren't meant to be with us.

 **DIGGLE:** That's what I thought about Lyla once. It didn't take.

 **LAUREL** (laughing lightly): At least things with Lyla aren't as complicated as Nyssa and me. And I don't mean because of my sister.

 **DIGGLE:** What do you mean?

 **LAUREL:** Do you remember when we took down Ra's last summer, and Nyssa stayed with me for a bit?

 **DIGGLE:** Yeah.

 **LAUREL:** The night Oliver killed Ra's, she was going to say goodbye. Go back to Nanda Parbat. I asked her to stay. And she did. For me. But if she went back when she wanted to, maybe she could have gotten control of the League before Oliver handed it over to Malcolm. And then none of this with Thea would have ever happened.

 **DIGGLE:** You can't think like that.

 **LAUREL:** My point is - I don't want to hold her back again. Not when staying with me the last time cost her so much. So I asked her to leave.

 **DIGGLE:** I bet she didn't take it too well.

 **LAUREL:** She refused to, at first. But I - managed to persuade her to leave. Even if just for a bit.

 **DIGGLE** (softly): I'm sorry.

 **LAUREL:** So am I.

 **DIGGLE:** Wanna go get Big Belly Burger with me? Might make you feel better, drowning your sorrows in a shake.

 **LAUREL** (smiling): Sure. I'm buying. And - John?

 **DIGGLE:** Yeah?

 **LAUREL:** About Andy. He'll come round.

 **DIGGLE:** How do you know that.

 **LAUREL:** Because you're family. And there's nothing more important than family. If he doesn't realise that - it's his loss, not yours.

 **DIGGLE** (patting LAUREL's arm): Thanks, Canary.


End file.
